Kelly Johnson's P-38 rides again! For all the rest of you who also can't figure out why FMS stopped making their gorgeous P-38, I have some good news: Now there's an EVEN NICER one! The LIFE SIZE (well...Denise size, anyway) 1600mm Flightline P-38 is here!

Want more good news? Its even bigger than that nice FMS P-38, and more powerful, too. More? Okay! We designed a serious reinforcement kit for it, and you can get your own right here- with our Patent Pending Crashproofing, no less! I've always said, and I'll say it again- the more gorgeous a plane is, the more you want to reinforce it with Killerplanes Crashproofing. Carbon Fiber is Carbon Fiber, and any rods you put in foam will make it stronger. Our 5 years of experience designing reinforcement kits brings the dream of protecting your plane into the real world- at this point, we really know what we're doing, and we're already at the point where it's more science than art. Consider this: I can truthfully tell you that of the last 110 airframes at our shop we designed a Crashproofing kit for, 108 of them are still flying, even after all the crashes you've seen them in on our Yootoob channel, The fact is that even the ones crashed at full throttle into the paved runway are still flying, and looking good, to boot. (I won't claim that every one of our reinforced planes would live through that, but our test planes sure did!) Anyways, enough about that. Let's get back to THIS baby…

If the P-38 Lightning isn't the most recognizable fighter from World War Two, I don't know what is. It was flown by the top four American Aces, who all loved theirs- and now it's YOUR turn to fly one! And - everybody will be sure to recognize it! I myself am a long time dyed-in-the-wool Lightning Lover, and I gotta tell you- it is a serious thrill flying one of these. If you've flown some of the fabulous FMS 1400mm fighters, you'll get my drift from this comparison- flying this giant, heavy Flightline P-38 is like flying a pair of 1400mm FMS fighters joined at the hip- this baby is seriously huge and seriously powerful! As far as I can tell, it will out climb all but the recent P-40 they made, with the new upgraded power train.

This gorgeous and BIG Lightning is so far the nicest foamie P-38 I've seen- and did I mention I've seen them all? I've long been completely happy with my 2 main P-38s- the first really nice one with retracts produced by JPower, and the second, and even nicer, one by FMS. Now, FlightLineRC (a new branch of an old company- Freewing) has come out with this 1600mm version, with lights, retracts, twin rudders, inner and outer split flaps on each wing, and beautiful touches like the turbocharger on the top of each boom, rendered here in faithful scale detail, and plastic doors on the gear all around (pairs of doors on the mains, and a single door on the front gear) for a really nice tight fit and super realistic look. For all you pilots who have a really good eye and a love for the real P-38, this FlightLineRC version has perfect lines and contours, and even the correct dihedral in the wings. And for you pilots who are completely nuts about realistic looking planes (like I am), this plane is definitely worth the extra time and effort. We have a number of How-To videos made with this plane, showing many tips and tricks for making the plane look like a miniature real P-38 when viewed close up. With just 3 or 4 hours and about $20, you can put them to use and do the tricks on your own P-38. I guarantee it will turn heads big time. One comment I got was "It's like I'm a giant and that's a real plane! Where did you get that??" Killer Planes, that's where.

As far as flying goes, I've seldom run a plane around that had better handling than this one- it's stable as a table, while still being super responsive. And it has ALL the power you'll ever want. And if you love seeing an airfoil wing in action (for some reason that thrills me), just pick this plane up and carry it 100 feet to the flight line. You'll know how heavy it is by the time you put it down. Then watch it effortlessly lift off the runway at the half throttle "rotate" speed. I didn't even put pressure on the stick- it just started flying. And our test plane weighs out at 4.6 KILOS- that's nearly 10 pounds! It really IS like two 1400mm FMS fighter tied together! Multiple loops at less than full throttle are easy, and every fighter maneuver I slammed it through was performed with consummate ease- tight high banking turns, sharp diving or climbing chandelles, zoom climbs, power dives ending in spine-crushing pullouts, and snap Immelmanns and Split Esses, barrel rolls, and gorgeous big airshow loops and aileron rolls - every maneuver was a show stopper! And just wait til you do a "left stick turn" with this beauty- lean a little on the rudder, add a little back pressure on the right stick, and the wings smoothly rotate into a beautiful banking turn. A real thrill to fly! It even has such nice touches as a replaceable nose cone, which will absorb some of the impact stresses should you happen to do a slow one point landing. Of course, with our SUPERMAX reinforcement it will absorb pretty much all of the impact stress, at even higher speeds (you may well be able to do an actual lawn dart maneuver with the Flightline P-38 with the SUPERMAX PLUS Crashproofing installed, and spear it into the grass like a javelin. If you should accomplish this, PLEASE take a picture to send us!)

For you version trackers, this is a model of the P-38L, which was the upgraded variant that accounted for over 3800 of the 9900 (or so) P-38s built by Lockheed. Speed, power, and long legs with the dual drop tanks. (We'll soon have a how-to video for making the tanks actually droppable, and converting them to bombs if you want to turn your P-38 into the great fighter-bomber that this plane was.) It was designed by Flightline for easy travel to the field, and I've already tested that- the outer wings are removable with 4 short screws so it will fit in most back seats, and it will sit on the extended gear without the wings attached. If you have an SUV, it easily fit in the back of my RAV 4 with wings attached, so I could just take it out and fly.

We set ours up with double 3300mAh 4 cell 35c Lipos, one to each motor. The batteries easily fit in the generous battery compartment, and our test plane with SUPERMAX PLUS Crashproofing installed balances nicely with them in place. I'm not sure what kind of greased lightning crew some other sites have, but I know my way around planes and it took me about 3 hours to connect all the wiring and control arms and test it. Because it has essentially 3 fuselages AND 3 wings (the center section and 3 outer wings), it takes longer than usual to install the Killer Planes Crashproofing kit as well. Flightline designed the plane around a generously proportioned pair of spars that span the center section of the wing, with a "plug in" spar that goes to the outer wing. Of course, like all manufacturers, they make their money on replacement parts, so none of their reinforcement will save parts of the plane from severe damage in a crash. Their reinforcement is to keep the plane in one piece while it's in the air or landing on wheels. If you should happen to have a mishap, that's one of the places where we come in. Our Patent Pending Crashproofing designs reinforce all of the foam to the outer tips- you know, the parts that actually HIT something in an accident. We added 3 full length spars to each outer wing, starting right at the wingtips, and 4 more full spars in the center wing, as well as "shock" spars that carry impact stress from the center pod back into the booms. We also add Carbon Fiber "longeron" rods that go from the tip of the nose (or the spinners) back to the tip of the tail, and rods that go to all of the other tips of foam parts, tails, fins, and all. The added rigidity from our Crashproofing spars and rods limits the undesirable flexing of wings or fuselage, making the plane's handling crisper, and greatly adding to the life of the foam- every time you flex a piece of foam (like your wings flex in high-G turns), the little foam beads that make up the foam get a little more flexible- and before you know it, you've got floppy wings. If you watch our videos, you'll notice that wings on our reinforced planes flex far less during maneuvers than the factory versions without KP Crashproofing installed - and in this case, less flex equals longer life.

And in case you may think Crashproofing sounds expensive, just keep this in mind. Our Crashproofing costs the same as a replacement for the center pod with shipping. And, if you haven't suffered through a repair like this already, listen to what you're in for. Let's say you have a transmitter problem, and you nose in (not even going so fast) and smash your center pod. Gravity doesn't care that you've been waiting for 3 weeks for this gorgeous flying day. You pack up and go home to order a replacement. Then you wait a week for it to arrive (if it was in stock…) When you get the new foam pod, it's just the shell. You have to disassemble your plane, remove all the servos, gear, doors, lights, , wiring and hardware from the wrecked pod, and reinstall it in the new one. Then, you install the new pod, reassemble the plane, hookup all the wiring, mount, test, and adjust the gear, servos, and door. If you're like me, with a full woodworking shop and $50,000 worth of tools, you're in luck- it won't take much more than 2 days to do the job. And if you wrecked the nose, the rest of the plane is probably not looking too pristine. So, after all that, you're left with a slightly (or more than slightly) beat up looking plane with a brand new looking nose. Grrrrrrr…..

There is another option- add reinforcement, subtract all of that drudgery, and add the lost time back on to your FUN time. Seriously- wouldn't you rather just stay at the field and keep flying after a minor crash?

My final word? If you fly RC planes, you NEED one of these in your hangar. If you want one that will remain in your hangar forever, you'll need to get it here at Killer Planes! Our Patent Pending reinforcement designs have saved hundreds and hundreds of planes from the trash heap- and saved many of their pilots from wasting beautiful Saturday mornings in the basement or garage repairing their plane, rather than enjoying them out at the flying field. (Sounds like a line? Check out our testimonials, so you can hear it from the buyers!)

And their final word-

The Flighline P-38 was designed for ease of use. The outer wings are removable (four screws) for convenient transportation. (It's designed so the aircraft can sit on all three wheels without the outer wings attached.) The horizontal stabilizer can also be removed if you want. (two screws). FlightLineRC’s P-38 Lightning features durable electronic retractable landing gear, sequenced servo driven landing gear doors (one in front, pairs on each main), day-bright LEDs, detailed machine guns, plastic nose cone and cowls, inner and outer split flaps on both wings, accurate canopy and cockpit details, and loads more.

The stock PNP version is equipped with two 3748 brushless outrunner motors and two 12x7 3-blade counter-rotating propellers for gorgeous scale appearance and serious performance. The recommended battery is a 4000 to 5000mAh 4 cell, but we set ours up with the twin 3300mAh 4 cells. Running on 4 cell batteries, the Flightline P-38 boasts sufficient power for BIG consecutive loops and a top speed of 81mph in level flight. We didn't have a radar gun on us, but I can tell you this: it is powerful and FAST. If you want to go even faster, there's an optional upgrade (with 2 blade prop and spinner) for speed freaks. It's said to go to 94MPH. WOO-HOO!! Me? 81MPH is fast enough, because I LOVE the scale looks of the 3 blade props! And this P-38 comes in two color schemes, “USAAF Green” and “Pacific Silver”. The “Pacific Silver” scheme includes four decal sets from the 431st Squadron led by Medal of Honor recipient Thomas McGuire. The “USAAF Green” scheme includes four decal sets from various squadrons in Europe and other theaters. Choose the decal set you want for your own look. (The decals are very nice "peel and stick" rather than the waterslide type)

PS- Ending your flying fun because of one broken prop blade sucks. So I always recommend getting extra props, since that's almost always the first thing to break. (For this plane, I'd get the pair of props- they're counter rotating, so you can't switch blades- and at least one spinner (the spinners go on either side, and hold the blades) To be REALLY safe, get an extra nose tip and one engine cowl to have on hand. Get that ground crew out of the way and get back in the air! TALLY HO!

SPECS:

Wingspan

1600mm (63")

Length

1168mm (46")

Weight
(w/ NO battery)

3150g they say. Actual weight about 3400g. Our test plane with SUPERMAX PLUS Crashproofing, extra plastic plates weighs 3700g (4400g with 2 3300mAh batteries) and you can see how it flies!

CG
(Center of Gravity)

100mm from the leading edge of the wingroot fairing at center or 68mm from wing root at inside of boom